Toronto’s Spencer West, whose legs were amputated below the pelvis when he was five years old due to a genetic disorder, did what few people have done earlier this week when he climbed to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. A public speaker with Free the Children, he began his journey on June 12 with two friends and a team of guides and porters. The 31-year-old, spent over a year with a personal trainer in preparation for the climb, which has raised over $500,000 to create clean water programs in Kenya — still shy of the $750,000 goal. The National Post’s Jake Edmiston spoke with Mr. West on the phone from Moshi, Tanzania, at the base of Kilimanjaro.

Q: You had to walk on your hands for most of the climb, is that something you do a lot in Toronto? West: No, and that was one of the main challenges. I typically get around in Cabbagetown, where I live, in my chair. But I have a car as well. We came into this thinking it would be 50% in my chair and 50% on my hands. In actuality, it ended up being 80% on my hands. But it wasn’t anything that was debilitating in any way.

Q: What do your hands look like right now?West: They’re finally clean. My hands are pretty dry and they’ve got some calluses where I was walking and pushing my chair. But every crack in my hand was covered in dirt. Everything under my fingernails was dirt. But my hands are tough, I use them every day to walk on. So I wasn’t too worried about cuts. I was more worried about my elbows and my shoulders. I’ve been walking with my arms for the past 31 years, so I’ve developed a bit of tennis elbow. I’ve had a partial tear in my rotator cuff and had that repaired. So I was really worried I’d tear my rotator cuff.

Q: You spent eight days just walking. There have to be some boring parts.West: That’s the thing. The first day we were in rainforest. Then the second day we were in the alpine desert. The next day we were literally in the desert and it was like the side of Mars. The next day it was a steep slope up to the top. At night we would play cards or Yahtzee. A couple of times we meditated. I’ll be very honest with you, I was never bored.

Q: Walk me through that moment when you reached the top.West: We collapsed in front of the sign and hugged and of course, cried.

Q: Was there a part where you didn’t think it was going to happen?West: Up until the summit day, my buddies were cheering me on. But when we got to that point to climb the summit, my two best friends were hit by massive altitude sickness. They were literally throwing up on the side of the mountain, I thought “Maybe this is it.” To be very candid with you, this is one of the first times I was like “I wish I had legs today.” Because I would have picked those guys up and carried them one by one to the summit. But I couldn’t do that, so instead I got on my hands and said “Guys, let’s walk this together.” I was going to go as far as they could go. If they stopped halfway and couldn’t make it, then that’s what we would have done.

Q: You had a team of porters traveling ahead of you to set up your camp and cook meals. Was it frustrating when they passed you every morning, after they had stayed behind to pack up?West: We sort of came in knowing that these guys were experts. We wanted to focus on our journey. When they would pass us, it was more like “These guys are awesome.”

Q: What do you eat when you’re climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro?West: For dinner we would always have some kind of soup and some kind of protein. One night we even had fried chicken. For lunch we’d have a pasta. And breakfast was always bacon and eggs.

Q: When you were trying to set this up, did you get a lot of people who wouldn’t support it?West: I didn’t get a lot of people telling me “No.” Of course, my parents were a nervous wreck. To be completely candid, I wouldn’t have cared if people told us “No.” You know what I mean? From the time I was born, I was told I would never walk or be a functioning member of society. Now I’ve climbed the largest mountain in Africa.

Q: How did people react to your project in Tanzania?West: That’s the one thing I’ve loved about Africa in general: Everyone is so supportive. There’s such a sense of community in Tanzania. Maybe this is a bit unhumble, but as we were walking back down the mountain, people passed us saying “We heard about you. You made it? That’s so incredible.”